Group items tagged

I see that one rationale for the Commons is to "get the students to the library." In our case, it has been very effective in attracting students…our gate count was 110 percent higher…so, it will attract students. But that begs the question?once they are in the building, what do we do with them? How do we engage them? The rationale for the learning commons, in my view, is that, properly designed, implemented, and operated, it will enhance student learning and scholarship. That is the real challenge, and the real goal, of the learning commons.3

Information commons have drawn students by offering environments that address their needs,4 bringing together technology, content, and services in a physical space that results in an environment different from that of a typical library.

The technology in an information commons is intentionally more pervasive than in most traditional academic libraries.

It would be important to note that the colleges that offer OCW courses are not meant to serve as "distance learning" initiatives. Credits and degrees are not offered through access to open sources and participants don't have access to university faculty with these resources.

Open source, according to the linked article, "refers to any enterprise where data (e.g. journal article, piece of software) may be modified by the relevant community and those modifications may be recontributed to the larger whole." Open access, on the other hand, has come to mean data — like peer-reviewed documents — that may be read without charge.

It’s this transparency that lowers the barriers to entry and participation.

reputation is a significant resource

What’s the downside to open source?

To innovate or wait: that is the question confronting IT managers on an almost weekly basis.

Perhaps the question instead should be how best to move in this direction yet avoid the faddish false starts that the Chronicle writer cautioned against.

In a nutshell, this theory holds that learning is strengthened, deepened, and made more effective when it is social, is engaged, provides formative assessment (as opposed to just summative), is relevant (tying content to students' concerns), and offers learners multiple paths. But perhaps the single most important component of constructivist learning theory is that learning happens best when students are active—not merely taking notes in lecture halls but writing, thinking, experimenting, creating, and devising.

Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment

Today, the weblog is frequently characterized (and criticized) as (only) a set of personal comments and observations. A look at the history of weblogging shows that this isn’t the case.

Weblogs (so named in 1997 by Jorn Barger in his Robot Wisdom Web site)

videogames (arguably one of the most sophisticated forms of information technology to date)

five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer.

power-performanced learning

This alignment is important because well-designed learning spaces and enabling technologies encourage students to spend more time on campus, increasing engagement and improving retention.

They appear to prefer learning-by-doing rather than learning-by-listening and often choose to study in groups. Much to the consternation of adults acculturated to lectures, they become impatient in situations where they don't feel engaged.

While many student attributes may be important to educators, five characteristics seem particularly applicable for learning spaces: Digital Mobile Independent Social Participatory

Educators must create structures that support this learning. Space can have a powerful impact on learning; we cannot overlook space in our attempts to accomplish our goals.

A room with rows of tablet arm chairs facing an instructor's desk in front of chalkboards conveys the pedagogical approach "I talk or demonstrate; you listen or observe." A room of square tables with a chair on each side conveys the importance of teamwork and interaction to learning. (See Figures 1 and 2.)

A classroom always has a front.